Interview With Indian Star Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar (Part 1)
- Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Fonds
Fonds/Collection
- Singapore Broadcasting Corporation Series
Series
- 25/09/1989
Record Date
- 00:31:53
Recorded Duration
- English
Recording Language
-
2011007048
Accession No.
- Sound
Type
- 7 inch Open Reel Audiotape
Format
-
Access permitted
Conditions Governing Access
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Use and reproduction require written permission from depositing agency/donor. Processing of reproduction request may require 7 working days.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
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Synopsis :In this recording, Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar says that he has great pleasure in coming to Singapore after ten years. He will be accompanied by Kumar Bose on the tabla and a local musician on the tanpura in his concert here. Ravi Shankar's music is based on the Hindustani system of Northern India. The concert will feature ragas, a melodic mode in South Asian music. Different ragas are associated with different times of the day. He will play evening ragas and beat cycles known as talas. There will be provision for improvisation in the programme. The maestro reveals that he does not really have a thorough grounding in Western music but has some basic training. He has experimented with musicians like Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal. He has also played two major sitar concertos for the symphony orchestra with Andre Previn and Zubin Mehta. Ravi Shankar says that he has students from all over the world. A true student has a special bond with his guru and there is a spiritual quality attached to the music. Some of his students are very dedicated in learning and practising the sitar. Others are academic and get a doctorate or write a thesis. Another group of his students performs in places like restaurants. Today, the sitar is used in jazz, Western and Indian fusion music. Things moved fast for him after 1965 when George Harrison from the Beatles became his student. This was a big breakthrough and he was rediscovered by the younger generation. Along with it came the drug scene and he fought hard against the association of drugs with pop and rock music. But it gave him an opportunity to bring music to the young. He has a dual role as a performer and a composer. As a performer he is an orthodox purist, but likes the freedom to create new things. As a composer he is very open to experimenting with film music, ballet, chamber music, jazz and with a symphony orchestra. However his music is always based on the Indian tradition.
